Bob Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 Having just been in London and travelling around Europe for the past six months leaves me looking around for a good deal to take up when I come back to Australia after so long away.Basically, there are three mobile phone networks across Australia . . . . . Telstra, Optus & Vodafone. Every other phone company piggy-backs off one of these networks.My own circumstances are that I have three kids and a wife. I have two kids in Adelaide, South Australia and one working overseas in Canada, so I need a phone deal that gives me overseas calls for a good price as well as great deals on phone calls and text messages (SMS) and picture messages (MMS) across Australia.I am retired nowadays and travel a lot right across Australia. This time next month I could find myself camping on the other side of Australia from where I live in South Australia.There are two ways to go . . . . post paid and pre-pay (Pay as you Go).I have chosen to go Post paid because the phone companies can lock you in to a deal for 24 months if you take one of their mobile phones on offer.My wife now has a shiny new iPhone 6 Plus on a 2 year contract.Basically, on looking at the three or four serious deals, I found the best network (Telstra) was a lot dearer than the other operators. This is because of lack of serious competition.Telstra offer deals on new phones, offer SIM only phone plans (you bring your own phone), but don't offer much else than a good network. Telstra didn't offer great deals on calling South Africa, Britain or Canada to keep in touch with relatives there, something that both Optus and Vodafone were offering.https://www.telstra.com.au/mobile-phones/appleDepending on where you'll end up in Australia, Telstra has a good network working in remote areas of Australia, but not everyone works in these sort of places, nor needs the best network since Optus and Vodafone have great networks in all the main cities and big regional centres across Australia.So . . . . paying half as much again for a phone deal with Telstra didn't much financial sense since I already have good network coverage where I live in South Australia.It was a close call between Vodafone and Optus for me personally, with phone deals pretty well the same price and SIM only plans the same.I was particularly interested in free overseas calls to various parts of the world, since I have old relatives in Britain and a daughter working in Canada.Vodafone clinched the deal because they offered best prices on what I wanted . . . a SIM only for me (iPhone 5S) for 12 months, a new iPhone 6 Plus for 24 months for my wife and an 8 Gb mobile broadband & modem for when I travel across Australia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandraDee Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 LOVE have you back on the Forum Bob, we missed you!! Someone else on the forum had mentioned amaysim. Unlimited talk and text, 8gb data and free international calls for around $50 - i think they piggyback off Optus. Does this mean that Optus should be cheaper than this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Posted November 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Here are all the deals available with Optus, Virgin (now 100% owned by Optus and they piggy-back off the Optus network) and Vodafone.Enjoy browsing!https://www.vodafone.com.au/personalhttp://www.optus.com.au/shop/Mobile-Site/Indexhttps://www.virginmobile.com.au/mobile-phonesand Amaysim were doing reasonable competitive offers up to a year or two ago, but as you browse, you'll realise that other networks have offers better than Amaysim are doing nowadays. Amaysim piggy-backs off the Optus network, also, but is owned by a German company.https://www.amaysim.com.au/home?eu=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterthe1 Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 If you're travelling across Australia but staying near bigger towns and cities I would suggest Optus, they seem to have good coverage in these places The other networks are not popular the further north you go as their coverage is poor to non existent. I work in Central QLD away from any big centres and Telstra is the only consistent network with the most coverage. Optus doesn't even work in a lot of areas where I work. With regards to internet, Telstra very seldom gets 3G or even 2G so Skype is the best way to go for cheap calls. I have Pay as you Go, $30/28days gives you $200 worth of calls and 1.3GB internet and free local calls after 18:00. Not ideal for surfing the web but then the internet is slow out here anyway. Good for calls though, and checking emails, using for Skype calls, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Posted December 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 (edited) You are correct, Peter, in stating that Telstra is best for coverage in central and western Queensland. If I were working, or living in western Queensland, I'd bite the bullet and have a phone connected to the Telstra network . . . . but it would cost me dearly. Most people living and working in Australia are doing so within 100 kms of a capital city or big regional city which has good coverage by all three of Australia's networks. . . . . . Telstra, Optus & Vodafone. People then can choose which network they want to connect to and a network which offers good value for money, great deals on calls, texts and data among other considerations. Edited December 9, 2015 by Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Posted December 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2015 Optus and Vodafone are both offering 10Gb of data on a new 12 month contract with unlimited calls to any other phone within Australia, and to the U.K., New Zealand and the USA. unlimited SMS text messages to a mobile (cell) phone within Australia or overseas, as well as unlimited MMS (picture messages) within Australia. Vodafone also offer up to 90 minutes free minutes call to a phone in South Africa (and Canada) each month. $40 a month. . . . . . . . . . now that rate is hard to beat! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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